Sexual abuse but not posttraumatic stress disorder is associated with neurocognitive deficits in South African traumatized adolescents

Biedermann, Sarah V.; Meliß, Stefanie; Simmons, Candice; Nöthling, Jani; Suliman, Sharain; Seedat, Soraya

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.04.003

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Extant literature supports the associations between sexual abuse and difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior and neglect and difficulties with impulsivity (Liu, 2019; Oshri et al, 2015). The items associated with difficulties with goal-directed behavior reveal attention problems when distressed (e.g., “When I am upset, I have difficulty focusing on other things”) that are common in childhood sexual abuse (Mii et al, 2020) and are characteristic of neurocognitive deficits, attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Biedermann et al, 2018; Langevin et al, 2021). Taken together, the impact of childhood sexual abuse impairs sustained attention, especially in moments of distress, making it difficult to engage in goal-directed behavior.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking the effects of child maltreatment subtypes on emotional competence in emerging adults.

Cheng¹,

Langevin²

2023

Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy

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Objective: Child maltreatment is often studied as a general category or individually as a subtype, but maltreatment subtypes are rarely studied simultaneously. Despite a breadth of research in the effects of child maltreatment on emotional competence, discrepant findings emerge when child maltreatment subtypes are explored. The present study aims to better understand the differential effects of childhood maltreatment subtypes on facets of emotion regulation and the recognition of specific emotions. Method: A sample of 573 emerging adults (87% female) aged 18-25 was recruited to complete an online survey that asked about child maltreatment history, difficulty with emotion regulation, and involved an emotion recognition task. Results: Path analyses indicated that emotional maltreatment had a global effect on the facets of emotion regulation and the recognition of negatively valanced emotions (anger, fear, and sadness). Neglect predicted difficulties with managing impulsive behavior; sexual abuse predicted difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior. Physical abuse was associated with poorer recognition of fear. Multigroup analysis suggested that patterns did not differ between clinically distressed and nondistressed participants. Conclusions: These results highlight the importance of including a standard set of child maltreatment subtypes in prediction models of emotional competence to avoid the misattribution or overestimation of the effects of child maltreatment subtype on emotional competence. Clinical Impact StatementThis study contributes to an emerging body of research highlighting the importance of controlling for maltreatment subtypes and emphasizing the global impact of emotional maltreatment on emotional competence. Clinical interventions may want to focus on specific emotion regulation and recognition difficulties depending on child maltreatment history.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking the effects of child maltreatment subtypes on emotional competence in emerging adults.

Cheng¹,

Langevin²

2023

Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy

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“…As most of the studies are correlative, future research should aim to investigate causalities between maternal factors and children's health outcome. Clearly, adverse postnatal childhood experiences can further aggravate such cognitive and behavioral dysfunctions ( 173 – 178 ) and thus, should be considered in experimental designs and observational studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prenatal Immune and Endocrine Modulators of Offspring's Brain Development and Cognitive Functions Later in Life

et al. 2018

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Milestones of brain development in mammals are completed before birth, which provide the prerequisite for cognitive and intellectual performances of the offspring. Prenatal challenges, such as maternal stress experience or infections, have been linked to impaired cognitive development, poor intellectual performances as well as neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in the offspring later in life. Fetal microglial cells may be the target of such challenges and could be functionally modified by maternal markers. Maternal markers can cross the placenta and reach the fetus, a phenomenon commonly referred to as “vertical transfer.” These maternal markers include hormones, such as glucocorticoids, and also maternal immune cells and cytokines, all of which can be altered in response to prenatal challenges. Whilst it is difficult to discriminate between the maternal or fetal origin of glucocorticoids and cytokines in the offspring, immune cells of maternal origin—although low in frequency—can be clearly set apart from offspring's cells in the fetal and adult brain. To date, insights into the functional role of these cells are limited, but it is emergingly recognized that these maternal microchimeric cells may affect fetal brain development, as well as post-natal cognitive performances and behavior. Moreover, the inheritance of vertically transferred cells across generations has been proposed, yielding to the presence of a microchiome in individuals. Hence, it will be one of the scientific challenges in the field of neuroimmunology to identify the functional role of maternal microchimeric cells as well as the brain microchiome. Maternal microchimeric cells, along with hormones and cytokines, may induce epigenetic changes in the fetal brain. Recent data underpin that brain development in response to prenatal stress challenges can be altered across several generations, independent of a genetic predisposition, supporting an epigenetic inheritance. We here discuss how fetal brain development and offspring's cognitive functions later in life is modulated in the turnstile of prenatal challenges by introducing novel and recently emerging pathway, involving maternal hormones and immune markers.

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“…Although previous studies have found that sexual abuse is associated with poorer cognitive function in schizophrenia, anxiety disorders and depressive disorders, our study found only a nominal association; this relationship deserves further investigation. 17 , 34 , 35 We found that emotional neglect also had an effect on cognitive function, but this finding did not survive FDR correction. The effect of emotional neglect on cognitive function may be related to changes in the volume of hippocampus and amygdala.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Childhood trauma and cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia: mediation by orbitofrontal cortex H-shaped sulci volume

Wang¹,

Yin²,

Feng³

et al. 2022

jpn

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Background: A line of evidence has shown that childhood trauma and patterns of H-shaped sulci in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) are associated with cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia. Studies have also suggested that childhood trauma is associated with OFC volumetrics. This study investigated the interrelationship between childhood trauma, OFC H-shaped sulci volume and cognitive function in patients with first-episode schizophrenia. We hypothesized that OFC H-shaped sulci volume would mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and cognitive function in patients with first-episode schizophrenia. Methods: We recruited patients with first-episode schizophrenia ( n = 63) and healthy controls ( n = 48), and quantified OFC H-shaped sulci volumes with 3.0 T high-resolution MRI. We assessed cognitive function and childhood trauma experiences using the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Results: Patients with first-episode schizophrenia had smaller left OFC H-shaped sulci volumes, more severe childhood trauma experiences and worse cognitive function than healthy controls. CTQ total score and emotional and physical neglect subscores were negatively correlated with left OFC H-shaped sulci volume. CTQ total score and emotional neglect and sexual abuse subscores were negatively correlated with cognitive function in patients with first-episode schizophrenia. Interestingly, the CTQ total score and physical neglect subscore were positively correlated with cognitive function in healthy controls. Left OFC H-shaped sulci volume played a mediating role in CTQ emotional neglect subscore, CTQ total score and MCCB composite score. Limitations: The small sample size and retrospective design need to be considered. Conclusion: Childhood trauma might contribute to cognitive deficits in patients with first-episode schizophrenia by affecting left OFC H-shaped sulci volume. This finding can help in the design of strategies to improve cognitive function in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.

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Sexual abuse but not posttraumatic stress disorder is associated with neurocognitive deficits in South African traumatized adolescents

Cited by 8 publications

References 54 publications

Unpacking the effects of child maltreatment subtypes on emotional competence in emerging adults.

Unpacking the effects of child maltreatment subtypes on emotional competence in emerging adults.

Prenatal Immune and Endocrine Modulators of Offspring's Brain Development and Cognitive Functions Later in Life

Childhood trauma and cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia: mediation by orbitofrontal cortex H-shaped sulci volume

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